The War Was Lost
by Minibyte
Summary: Antauri is faced with a difficult decision after SK takes over. With only the words 'Dont trust the' he embarks on a journey of life or death. Rated for blood and very light swearing. Re-rated because I've seen much worse.
1. Pt 1

Authors Note: Yes, I'm back though I bet none of you missed me because I haven't posted barely_ anything_. I have a whole bunch of stories I _have _to type up because a water bottle exploded in my backpack on our Algebra Academy trip to San Jose State college, and it drenched _everything _in my b-pack. My iPod survived but my notebook wasn't so fortunate. Sooo on with this sad tale.

Disclaimer: I don't own SRMTHFG Ciro Nelli does.

**The War Was Lost**

**Pt. 1**

"It's all over, so stop fighting." A raspy voice said.

He dropped to his hands and knees panting. He took one last look at the blood stained robot before the formless closed in around him.

He snapped out of it and looked around; he had never seen a day so grey without rain. He reached up and felt the collar, just a bent piece of steel with a hole just big enough to fit a chain link through. It was easily broken. He was a failure though, he was supposed to be the father of his team, _supposed to be_. Yet their blood stained his fur.

A large 'X' gashed his chest, another on the right side of his face going toward his right eye nearly hitting it at the bottom. Another was on his helmet on the left on the left side from his COM receptor to the middle of his helmet. Every gash was open and untreated revealing blood and metal.

His focus split from his injuries to a woman which had tapped him on the shoulder. She looked at her 11 year old son and gazed back up "Please brave warrior take my son and save Shugazoom and him so he will see this city as it once was." She said. He put his hands in front of his face, backs facing him and nodded 'no'.

A tear fell down his cheek, the boy reminded him of Chiro which he had defended with all the strength he had. The young child had the same sparkles of enthusiasm that Chiro had. Even though he knew in all Chiro must have been dead it would at least make him comfortable if he could see the boy's body; to see that the spirit was eternally free and in no pain. His gaze turned to the sky and remembered:

_/Flashback/_

_Otto jumped and attacked a formless which was about to attack Chiro. The formless grabbed him and another put a sword through his back, killing him instantly. _

_"Otto!" Nova yelled as she watched her green friend get struck down. She slammed the formless together killing them but one had grabbed her and she was killed by her own blow. _

_Antauri rocketed to Chiro on the other side of the room and helped him up but the boy couldn't put any weight on the foot. Much less support himself enough to stand. "Antauri…" he said in a faded course voice. _

_"It may not be easy but we must fight on Chiro and you have to walk at least to get out of battle until we deal with injuries." The silver simian said. The boy nodded and used the monkey to get to his transport tube. _

_On the way there a formless stabbed the boy on the right side if his back and looked at them "It's all over, so stop fighting." It said. Both boy and monkey surrendered._

_/End Flashback/_

The memory was so painful, too painful for him to live with. If given the chance he would have pulled out his heart but his claws were deactivated.

Soko came up to the simian and placed a large case in front of him. "What is it?" he inquired.

"Whatever it is my master wanted me to give it to you. So good-bye!" the little monkey said leaving.

The woman still watching he opened the case after a bit of hesitation. He looked in and grabbed a corpse of the human boy. He put the child's head against his chest "I'm so sorry I failed you. I'm also sorry that I told you was harsh. I wish you could hear me because I really miss you but I know you are in a much better so let the words travel that I will always love you my chosen one"

He broke down and the lady could see that the grief was all the same and the tears fell on the bloody black hair. He laid the boy in his lap to mask his tears and a tear fell square between Chiro's closed eyes and it fell down the face until it fell into the boy's mouth. The silver monkey wiped his tears and said "I'm sorry that…"

He heard a cough and looked down. Weary blue eyes opened and the child looked into the sad blue eyes of the primate. "Don't be sorry, for anything… (cough) Now that the rest of us are gone you must put your grief behind you and do what is best for the city. You may be surprised at the rewards you get; and you have only been told that your claws are deactivated. Don't trust the-" the child's eyes closed and warmth disappeared from the body for good.

"Don't trust who?" the monkey asked in panic. There was no response. He took a second to think about it and pulled his ghost claws and slashed the chain and ran over to a tree and began to dig. He pulled the child into the hole he had made and jumped out and covered it and scratched into the dirt "Chiro, Age: 13, He was a great hero and adopted son."

He walked to the 11-year old and said in plain English "Do you have a name? I'm going to need to know it if I'm going to help you save the city."

"You mean I'm going to save Shugazoom?" the boy asked excitedly. Antauri nodded and the child said "Name's James."

"Okay then we'd better get moving shouldn't we Capitan?" Antauri asked

"Yep." The child said

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Antauri: You are a cruel, insane, person. I can't believe you killed Chiro.

Me: (with Gibby night of fear eyes) No I'm not. See he's fine. (Opens door to show Chiro watching Sun Riders)

Chiro: You are one good actor, Antauri.

Otto: The makeup was fun to take off. Blood is gaksause SUGAR HIGH!!!!

Me: okay well before I'm killed with purple ghost paws. Please **R&R.** Ciao and happy tails to you!


	2. Pt 2

Okay I'm back. With three million scratch marks. I'm done! Done with this stupid academy! I am never going back. EVER AGAIN! And yeah, James is not an OC, he is for this story and this one only, so if you don't like him, get over it, because after this he's gone. THREE MINUTES TO CURTIAN! Oh yeah, and if it says chattered, Antauri's speaking monkey, any other form is English. Sprx can't speak English.

Nova: Holy Crap! Has anyone put Antauri's makeup on?

Gibson: I haven't, is he even still out?

Nova: He should, I knocked him over the head pretty hard.

Otto: SUGAR! SUGAR! SUGAR!

Sprx: Otto, you're not supposed to eat the makeup, (to himself) not yet anyway

Chiro: Ha-ha! I'm not in this seen! And Antauri is being shot this scene. No overprotective menaces!

Me: OK disclaimer, I don't own SRMTHFG. 3, 2, 1 and were rolling!

**The War Was Lost**

**Pt. 2**

"Okay, um… how about we go that way." James said as he pointed at the only door that wasn't guarded.

"Don't you think it may have traps?" Antauri asked.

"I never thought of it that way. Then how do we get out?" The boy asked.

"How about there?" The simian asked pointing at a weak looking gate with two bulky alien men guarding it.

"I dunno they look pretty scary." James remarked

"Do not fear for I will distract them." Antauri said "…besides brains are better than brawn." He chattered

The silver simian jumped up and with lightning quickness, he managed to position himself behind the man and grabbed onto his neck. As the man tried to throw Antauri off of his neck, Antauri pulled out his ghost claws to ensure tighter grip. _Fall down… _he thought as his grip began to fade. Finally the man fell to his knees coughing from lack of whatever he breathed. Antauri remained clinging to the man's neck until the alien passed out. He jumped down and tripped the second man. "What an idiot." he chattered "Come on." he called

The boy ran toward the panting primate and they busted the fence and found a way out "Prisoner breech!" the tripped man called "Pass it to the master!" he added.

Antauri and the boy ran as fast as they could to find a place to hide, but it seemed at every turn they took something of the Skeleton King's essence waited and the simian defeated each at every wrong turn they took. At final they came to the Super Robot. _…m__y home, but how, why would I even __do__ it._ He wondered as he looked at the super robot. Something called him to it though, and he didn't want to deny it, he couldn't deny it. It was drawing him in like a fish on a rod and he just couldn't help grabbing the bait. "This way" he said pointing at the Super Robot.

Inside the robot was an extremely bloody floor upon entrance, "Remind me why we're here again?" the boy asked. Antauri had already left his side and was doing something. The boy walked to the silver monkey who was cradling something in his arms. "What are you holding?" the child asked. Antauri turned and to the boy's discovery was a limp Otto with a hole through his back. He placed the green monkey's body into a tube (like the ones that Chiro put the monkeys into in "I, Chiro") and sighed going over and picking up the Nova and placing her in a tube as well.

He headed into the lab. Inside was Gibson laying on the floor with a needle stuck in his arm. It was at least good to know his teammates hadn't gone without a fight. He pulled out the needle and stuck the blue monkey in a tube. He went back into the lab and looked at Sprx who was laying on a med-bay table "He didn't even have the chance to fight this battle…" he chattered softly and a flutter of hope flapped inside of him reminding him that Sprx wasn't injured as badly as the others. Antauri's mind was set. He would try to reactivate Sprx. Perhaps Sprx had been deactivated, he prayed that he had.

He tried to reactivate Sprx but the red monkey made no movement. He picked up the red monkey and began to bring Sprx to his tube. In the deathly silence the red simian sputtered to life and announced his presence with a cough. "I'm hallucinating." Antauri muttered in monkey

"Put me down!" Sprx yelled out. The red monkey pushed his way out of Antauri's grip "Geez Antauri, what's gotten into you?" he yelled "…and how come it's so dark in here and where is everyone?" he asked. He stumbled to the switch and turned it flooding the room with light. He looked at the silver monkey "How come your hands are covered in blood?" he added to his list of questions "…and why is the floor is all bloody? Who's that? And for the last time where is everyone?"

Antauri looked up "The world isn't what you left it… it is very, very different. Everyone is standing right in front of you. Well at least everyone alive. All the other monkeys are here, dead. Chiro is at the site, with all the other Shugazoomians. The battle was rough as the floor tells. I just got here and was cleaning up from the battle. I just went kind of insane because everyone was gone and thought I could save Shugazoom on my own for someone who needed to see Shugazoom when he got older." He chattered

"So you're telling me that kid over there is why your back here? Shouldn't you be doing it for our kid?" Sprx yelled

"As I said the only living ones of this team left are you and I." Antauri chattered

"Well then let's get this place cleaned up" Sprx said "…and tell that kid over there it's okay to come out. He seems a bit freaked out."

Antauri walked over and told the child Sprx wasn't going to hurt them and went to aid Sprx in repairing the robot. Sprx looked at the job with a pale face. "Okay then, how do we clean this?" Sprx asked

"Mops? Paper towels? Regular towels? Hand cloths? Erm… I don't know. Besides you're the neat freak around here. I only keep my room clean so that it provides me with a gentler aura for meditation, and an escape for anything I need to come out about." Antauri chattered

"Then let's start with mops." Sprx said "…and get smaller buckets, blood will be blood and spread the same; so we might as well use less water."

Antauri nodded and headed off to find what was required of the task. _Finally…_Antauri thought _…__someone like me is alive. I won't be doing this all on my own. _

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Me: Well? Did everyone like this one?

Nova: Gotta love that twist! It seemed like everything was just going downhill and then

Gibson[interrupting it rises because Sprx was added

Sprx: I know the audience loves me. Please I can only give so many autographs in a day.

Nova: You guys are dumbasses (whacks the boys over head)

Me: **R&R** (Read and Review). Ciao and happy tails to you!


	3. Pt 3

A/N: Finally, another chapter! My poor paws ache! I'll tell you guys, it's hard to keep up with demand! NOT! All right, here yah go! **PLEASE **don't just fave of alert my story, I'd love a couple of reviews please!

**The War was Lost**

Chapter 3: Ghosts

"Get out of the way!" Sprx screeched once more "Could you be a little less clumsy and down about things? This robot isn't going to clean itself!"

Antauri lifted himself off the floor for about the fifteenth time in one morning, his coat was already stained with blood and his hands ached, too many buckets filled with blood, just too many.

Sprx could see the silver monkey's aching eyes and realized his vocal abuse to him and then said "Take a break; we will get back to this later."

Antauri's chest was still an open wound, and without Gibson it would be infected, especially because of this type of labor.

"So, what happened?" Sprx asked as Antauri sat down to rest.

"Huh?" Antauri asked sleepily

"What happened?" Sprx tried again.

"Oh," then Antauri looked away. "It was after you deactivated, about a day after, the formless broke in and Gibson was in Medical Bay getting ready to help you out. He had healed you already but was going to reactivate you and Chiro called to him but he didn't listen. We used a couple of formations, D, O, and Z and everyone was wiped. Clean out of energy, we tried for one more though, when it all broke down. Amidst a lightning kick the formless grabbed Chiro by the leg and hurled him over. I think it broke his leg, and he couldn't bear weight on it without screaming. Otto tried to guard him and saw him getting attacked; the formless took a sword and pierced him like shish kabob on a stick. Nova… she saw it… and tried to get them back for all they had done. Mind you she brought them down but they brought her down with them. Chiro and I were the only ones down on the floor, we attempted escape but all in vain. Everywhere we turned another formless cruelly waited to attempt our demise.

I had to get somewhere and the ancients know I tried to save him. We crawled behind one of the chairs unknowing of the formless behind us. I heard him scream in agony. Speared in the stomach, it couldn't have been quick like the others. We had to surrender, there was no other way.

We were loaded into a cart and I could do nothing but hold him close and cry my heart out sorry that I had failed him. I don't think he even heard me. We reached a camp and he was sleeping on my lap, I could tell because I could feel his pulse, it was weak and slow but there. They pulled us apart and I was brought in and marked, that's what this is." Antauri said pointing to the 'X' mark on his chest: "It was sometime later, I was brought a case and Chiro was inside dead. He must have died at the Skeleton King's knees, as it was Mandarin who personally brought the case out.

I cried, I had lost him and something, his spirit, inspired me to move on. A woman brought in, had wanted me to take her son and give him a chance to see life outside under the Skeleton King's wrath. It was only after then that I was motivated to save him, and I did. I was going to go off elsewhere but something attracted me here. Bringing him into a blood-saturated robot wasn't my idea of a nice welcome, but my mind at that time was wiped of places to go so I was forced to come here. I kind of got to putting things into place, before I found you and Gibson in the lab. Gibson was laid down with a needle in his arm, using his own instruments to conquer him.

Then I saw you, and I wondered if you had been killed like the others. You know the rest…" The silver monkey breathed in, and tried a smile to cheer things up but sadness was opaque under a transparent and faked happiness.

"That's awful." Sprx said "I can't believe those jerks would be so mean. I get the fact of messing around with us for a while, the chance that we might be taken prisoner and zapped until we fell on the floor crying. Yet, to the fact of death though I could not imagine; thinking that those who had died hadn't even reached twenty, it scares me. To think Chiro couldn't drive a car legally yet, and died haunts me. I can't believe after all that you're still standing to tell the tale and have the courage to get up and try again, that amazes me. How do you do that?"

"I don't know," Antauri replied "I think it is just the motivation that I need is to help others to know that they will live on to make a better tomorrow that speaks to my heart."

"They'll come again and take us away!" James cried pointing at a scan of the formless that Sprx was editing on the computer. "We need to leave or they'll some again!"

"He has a point; can the robot get into space?" Sprx asked

"It should be able to, the fight was all hand-to-hand." Antauri replied "We'll need a lighter load though; this robot is still so heavily laden with blood that it will not be able to take off because there is so much.

Some time later Antauri faced the door of Nova's room. "We shouldn't go in there" Sprx commented.

"She won't even know, besides we need lighter weight to take off and we cant get that without getting rid of some stuff." Antauri said sternly

"Hey, look at what I found!" James cried holding up Nova's open diary.

"Ooh, ahh…" Sprx murmured and rushed for the book

Antauri levitated it just beyond Sprx's jumping reach "Later, after this" he said. Sprx's eyes dulled and the two went to work sorting through things that would and wouldn't need to be kept.

_Later…_

The engine fired and the robot took flight. In space Shugazoom looked like it had been colored black and white and lakes looked like pools of blood waiting to demolish their next victim. Sprx flopped down in his chair and opened the diary, the first entry was priceless and it appeared as though she had just learned to write. It said:

_Dear Diary:_

_I hate being a princess! It's too much work! I wanna go of and be a warrior! Someday when I'm old enough I'll run off, I'll run off! No one will stop me! And if those jerks try to find me, I'll blow their heads off!_

_Love,_

_Nova_

He flipped forward a few pages and read another entry:

_Dear Diary:_

_I told everyone what I wanted to be in school today. I hate essays about vocation! It was truthful, but even the teacher laughed at me! That only makes me want to get out of there more though. I will show no murcy to those who laughed!_

_Sincerly,_

_Nova_

Sprx flipped forward again "Anything exciting?" Antauri asked

"Nope, just whining about childhood junk." Sprx replied

"Guess it's not the gold mine you thought it would be? Right?" Antauri asked

"Wait, this one is cool!" Sprx said "Hear this: Dear Diary: I have this odd feeling inside of me and whenever I see him I get dizzy and starry eyed. I want to go over and squeeze him until he pleads me to put him down to get a breath of fresh air. He's a senior though and I'm just a freshman, and I have a reputation to protect! Still I can't help thinking how sad it will be that he'll get killed this year and not know what he's in for. Sincerely, Nova"

Antauri grinned "I guess your not very high on her list than." He said

"Wait here's some more: Dear Diary, I met someone new today, he seems like a flirt right now but I can't help but have a soft spot for the guy. You can see the hard-working, battle-scarred soul within. I like that about a guy, a hard-working moral and a scar to show and stories to tell about the past. I'll tell you, my parents and Mathew would be flipping out right now if they saw him. Oh, well." Sprx finished reading the next journal entry "There's no signage on this one."

"Hm…" Antauri pondered softly. Then to their shock they heard a large crash, from within the robot.

"Where's James?" Antauri asked, thinking that was the sound of a child investigating, as it usually was. At least it was when Chiro was around.

"He's playing with some of Chiro's sun rider action figures on the floor" Sprx said.

Antauri turned his gaze to the floor but nothing was there. "As I figured" Antauri said "I'll see what he's up to."

Antauri walked along the hall to Chiro's room, nobody was there. He tried Sprx's, Otto's, Gibson's, his own, and Nova's, the child was not in the bedrooms. He checked in the lab and in Otto's workshop, he looked in the charging quarters. Again he faced empty rooms and dead silence. There were two possible places left, the kitchen and the training room, Antauri hoped that the child was in the kitchen. He checked and a pang of fear clutched onto his chest, nothing.

Antauri walked into the training room, queasy at the thought of what a child of his age could do. He heard another crash and looked into the battle unit, the boy's face was covered in blood. His whole body was drenched in the maroon liquid. A hazy figure waited close by. "Get up, you need to learn." It said.

Antauri realized that this 'shape' was Nova's spirit, attempting to train the boy how to battle. The boy stood to his feet, and attempted a weak punch. Nova blocked it and let the boy stand for a second before tipping him over. She went for her 'final blow' and Antauri jumped in the way, feeling every bit of the blow. "Leave the boy alone" Antauri exclaimed "We don't have a doctor, and he's bleeding bad enough as it is."

The hazy figure looked his way, "I'll leave now, but don't stop me next time or my wrath goes out on you." Before the haze blew away bit by bit like smoke.

Later that night, Antauri lay in his bed contemplating how to survive, now that the team's spirits lived on in the super robot. Strange noises disturbed him. He would start to doze off and hear a teammate call his name. Finally, he opened his eyes; he saw four hazy figures in front of him, one bigger than the rest. He let out a horrified screech, which was smothered by a hand over his mouth "Shh…" one of them said

"Don't kill me," Antauri cried shaking

"Relax…" the seemingly more yellow tinted one said "We're not here to hurt you…"

Antauri pulled the covers over his head and repeated to himself "It's just an illusion, it's just an illusion, it's just…"

"We're still here" the largest one said

"We're not here to hurt you" The bluish tinted ghost said.

Antauri squeezed himself into the covers, hoping and praying that the ghosts would go away. No sound echoed to him for five minutes. He looked out again and saw each pale, void, expressionless face, staring. He felt as though he was being lifted for a second before he blacked out.

When he came to, Antauri was on one of the tables in the Med Bay. The pale ghosts were rushing around, avoiding daylight's blinding mirror. He felt a sharp piercing sensation in his chest and Antauri experienced the worst Vertigo, while lying on his back. He howled out in pain when he felt something touching the open wound.

He could feel a mass on his chest just before he lost sensation. His limbs might as well have been gelatin. He struggled hard to get up but along with table shackles his limbs didn't cooperate. The feeling was horrid and he had to endure through saws and other loud, noisy and painful tortures. Antauri couldn't help but feel relieved when he saw the chains undone. He was in no shape to walk back though; he hadn't let them know he was awake either.

Back in his charging unit, Antauri wanted these creatures to leave. The yellow- and blue-tinted one told him a faded "good night" as if they knew he was awake. The top of the capsule shut and a knob on the outside got pulled. Inside pink gasses released, the silvery monkey quickly grew drowsy and passed out.

Morning came; Antauri woke to the bright lights of the robot. He looked at his alarm clock, three in the afternoon. He opened and slipped out of the capsule, groaning in pain. His chest hurt and all of yesterday's memories were fuzzy. He walked into a tube and was transported to his room within a matter of seconds. He stood in front of the mirror, only to find that his wounds were somewhat stitched closed. "My god, it's real…" he whispered.

--

A/N: A okay, you read my story, I beg of you **Review!**

Chiro: She truly is desperate

Sprx: So desperate, she had to dump watered down ketchup all over the robot! Do you know how long it's gunna take to clean up this mess!

Chiro: No

Sprx: FOR-EV-ER!!

Me: Your problem, not mine

Everyone: **Review!**

Me: No monkeys were harmed in this story.


	4. Pt 4

A/N: Sorry I haven't posted anything for a_ really _long time. I lost interest in writing and now it's back again. So, despite my nearly half year long hiatus, I bring you chapter 4! This chapter is kind of straying from the good to the evil side, but I promise, I'll get back to the good side soon. I have taken notice of a few cosmetic errors that I will fix in the first chapter. Don't forget to **R&R**! 3, 2, 1, ACTION!

Disclaimer: (I know, I forgot on the last chappie) I do not own anything of SRMTHFG, Ciro Neili does, all worship Ciro!! Haha!

**The War was Lost**

Chapter 4: Rising From the Grave

Mandarin walked outside the castle Skeleton King had forced the Shugazoomians to build. He wasn't sure why Skeleton King had wanted him to retrieve the body of the pathetic human that the silver monkey held so dearly. Nor did he particularly care, just as long as he got his high salary.

He began by finding the abandoned case with the broken chain and two knocked out guards nearby. He then found the shallow grave that was immediately recognized by Antauri's handwriting. He began to dig it up and found the human buried underneath. Finding his target, he grabbed the human and dragged it with him to the castle.

Inside the castle, Mandarin delivered his target. He did not bother to ask his questions, he wouldn't especially after Skeleton King had picked out an equally if-not-more capable 'favorite' henchman.

He viewed her atop Skeleton King's left shoulder, where he had sat not so long ago. She had dull grey fur and dark blue eyes, but unlike Mandarin, she was a robot monkey and bad to the bone.

Skeleton King looked towards his shoulder, "Togo, do you remember the plan?" he asked. The grey monkey nodded her head.

Skeleton King looked back to Mandarin, "Oh yes, Mandarin, you're dismissed." He said blandly. Togo stuck her tongue out at Mandarin as he walked away, the orange monkey sulked back to his room.

Sakko was in Mandarin's room, "Don't feel bad," the tiny monkey said, "The master still likes you, just not as much as he likes that Togo now. You know his motto 'out with the old and in with the new.' You were great for coming up with battle plans and so was your time, but when he got control of Shugazoom he needed a new favorite minion who knew how to manage things."

Mandarin nodded, "but that still doesn't explain why he won't share his big idea with me." He whimpered,

"Well, if it helps any, I never got told the secret plots after you came, it's all part of not being on the top." Sakko said

**-in the place where SK and Togo are-**

Togo laid out the blueprints for the robot monkeys that Skeleton King had used prior to turning evil. "Excellent," the Skeleton said and began to maniacally laugh.

Some time later Skeleton King and Togo set to work, they began to put the pieces together for a robot monkey. It took them hours to finish but finally their makings were revealed.

It looked strangely similar to Antauri's new body except for a few things. It's fur was a snowy white instead of metallic silver, it's eyes were orange and the tip of the spike on top of his helmet was orange instead of black.

"It's charming, your highness" Togo complimented on the Skeleton's work, "He'll never suspect that he's one of us until it's too late."

"Now," the Skeleton said, lifting the dead child's body onto the table, "All we have to do is extract the spirit from his body." The skeleton said,

"Your highness, we'll have to perform a spirit call first, I'm afraid that it has already left the body." Togo said,

"Of course, why do you think I brought the corpse in here?" the skeleton said, "Now, you perform the ritual."

Togo performed the ritual and as it was meant to do, Chiro's soul came into his body again, his skin gained a tinted peach-ish color to look more alive than the pale white of before.

Skeleton King and Togo extracted the spirit and placed it into the new monkey body. "Now," the Skeleton said darkly, "All we have to do is wait for him to wake and convert him to our side, which shouldn't be too hard." He cackled maniacally again.

**-a few hours later-**

Inside another section of the castle Sakko impatiently paced the floor by a bedside "I wish that child would just get up now, I have more important things to do." He grumbled. As Sakko's wish escaped his mouth there was a moaning sound from the bed. "Finally!" the tiny girly monkey yelped. He climbed onto the bed and saw that the white monkey was indeed coming to.

He ran outside the door and down a maze of corridors and into a large room where Skeleton King with Togo on his shoulder sat. "Master!" Sakko yelped, "He is waking!" the skeleton looked down to the tiny monkey, and gave him a nod.

The skeleton stood up, "Togo, I want you to wait here." He said, the grey monkey nodded and jumped off his shoulder. The skeleton walked down a hall and into a room to find Mandarin listening to an Mp3 player singing softly to it while he surfed the internet on his laptop.

"Mandarin," the skeleton said softly, the orange monkey gave him no heed, "Mandarin!" the skeleton yelled. The orange monkey looked up at the skeleton and took his headphones off and closed his laptop, acknowledging him politely.

"Come with me," the skeleton said, Mandarin followed, asking no questions.

They came into the room where Skeleton King had left Sakko and Togo, "Mandarin, do you remember when you were part of the monkey team?" he asked.

Mandarin nodded,

"Well I need someone to lure Chiro in here, someone who he doesn't know, and someone who he will trust. I was thinking of you, so Togo and I have devised a mechanical body for you, and all we need now is your spirit." The skeleton said,

"Will I get my old body back?" Mandarin asked uncertainly,

"No, but you will get your laser, shield and claws back." Skeleton King replied,

"I don't think that's such a good idea and besides you need me, you need me to help m-you with managing the military." Mandarin whimpered in his own defense.

"Don't worry Mandarin; you'll still be around to help me, just in a different form." SK said,

"I don't recall this being a request," Togo growled,

Sakko jumped onto Mandarin's shoulder as Togo and Skeleton King waited for their responses. "This could be your ticket to being number one again!" the tiny monkey whispered.

Mandarin smiled and plucked the tiny monkey off his shoulder and dropped him to the ground of which Sakko squeaked abruptly after hitting.

Togo began to laugh automatically at Sakko, "Squeaky toy, squeaky toy, squeaky toy!" she cried in-between her fit of odd humor.

"Togo!" the skeleton snapped at his minion.

She straightened up automatically, "Yes, your highness?" she asked.

"Mandarin?" the skeleton asked,

"I will my lord." The orange monkey replied quickly.

"Lay over there," the skeleton said and pointed to a table which Togo stood nearby. Mandarin complied.

"Togo, begin extracting Mandarin's spirit." The skeleton commanded, "Sakko," he added, "Sound proof the walls quickly."

The tiny monkey rushed to a control panel and sound proofed the walls. Togo began to chant a strange chant, "noisessop ym otni luos eht esaeler, noisessop ym otni luos eht esaeler," over and over again, the third time she repeated the chant Mandarin released a blood-curdling scream and began to struggle for his life. Togo did not stop chanting, she only got louder to respond to Mandarin's cries of pain. Skeleton King pushed a button on the end of the table that forced restraints around Mandarin's neck, arms and legs.

After Togo recited her tenth chant, Mandarin's eyes turned white and a constant fit of screams begun.

After the twentieth chant, a small white orb began to phase through Mandarin's skin and the fit of screaming stopped. The chants continued and the orb rose through Mandarin's skin and above him. The more the orb rose, the less resistance Mandarin seemed to give. At about the twenty-seventh chant the orb rested a good half foot above Mandarin's body and Mandarin had ceased to resist anymore.

She grabbed a pair of nearby scissors and made a small snip under the orb, Mandarin gave out one more chilling screech before falling. The color drained from his body and his eyes slid shut. The old Mandarin was no more.

Togo grabbed the white orb and used her tail to push a button on the table. The table turned over to reveal a red-orange cybernetic monkey with black eyes. The new monkey bore an eerie semblance to that of his younger times with the monkey team. She eased the orb into the chest of the new body and stepped away. She walked to the other side and undid the restraints. She smiled at the skeleton, "He'll wake in about five minutes, I'll be in my chambers if you need me." She said and walked off.

Five minutes passed and the eyes of the new Mandarin fluttered awake. His pupils were red, just as before. Skeleton King smiled at his work. Mandarin stood up, "Now what?" he asked, expecting his next command.

"I want you to bring the boy in here." Skeleton King said, "Oh, and by the way, you're just a friend if he asks."

Mandarin nodded his head before he took off. Sakko grasped onto Mandarin's tail and managed to climb onto the orange monkey's shoulder. "Wasn't that scary?" Sakko asked,

Mandarin slowed down and gave Sakko an odd look, "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, the chanting and having your soul pulled out of you? Wasn't that scary?" Sakko asked,

"A little, but the new body was worth it." Mandarin replied. He looked at Sakko, "Now get off of me! I have to lure the boy in, and get on Skeleton King's good side again." He dumped the tiny monkey to the ground and walked into a room.

The white monkey was sitting up and looking around, he noticed the orange one, "Hey, who are you?" he asked, "And do you know where we are?"

"Me?" Mandarin asked, "I'm a friend, and we're in a doctor's office, you were revived after the monkey team left you for dead."

The white monkey had a confused look on his face, "Who's the monkey team?" he asked.

"You don't know?" Mandarin asked,

The white monkey nodded his head.

"Do you even know who you are?" Mandarin asked,

"Come to think of it, no, I can't remember anything from before now." the white monkey said.

Mandarin smiled, "Wait here a moment, my boss just called me, I'll be right back." He ran out of the room, down the corridors and to the place where Skeleton King sat. "Lord!" he cried out, "Excellent news! The boy does not remember anything, not even his own name!"

The Skeleton carefully collected the information for a golden minute, "Not even his own name?" he asked,

Mandarin nodded,

"Then bring him here, as I have commanded you to do and we will see that his identity is established once again." The skeleton said.

Mandarin rushed back to the room where the white monkey sat, still trying to understand his surroundings. "Hi again," the white monkey said with a smile on his face.

"My boss wants to meet with you," Mandarin relayed. He helped the white monkey to his feet, who abruptly fell to the ground after being released.

Mandarin brushed away his initial shock, "Right, step 1 before 2." He muttered to himself.

"I don't think I can walk," the white monkey whimpered.

Mandarin walked over to him, "No, you just need to learn how to walk on two feet; it shouldn't be too hard for you, seeing as you were a human before you were turned into a monkey as an attempt to save you." He helped the white monkey onto two feet again. "The problem you're having is with your balance. You need to pick up your tail and use it to direct yourself." He said.

The white monkey attempted to grab his tail from behind him as it swished from side to side as if it had a mind of its own. He finally managed to grab it, and holding it firmly in his hands, he showed it to Mandarin. "Like this?" he asked,

Mandarin slapped his palm in his face, _I'm training an idiot_ Mandarin thought. "No, I mean have your brain take control of your tail and have your brain make it lift off the floor and into the air for balance. You just need to think about it, think about making your tail look like the way mine is," he said and turned around showing Chiro the way he carried his tail.

Chiro's eyes seemed to inquire him, "This thing belongs to me?" he asked, "Cool!" He concentrated and managed to make the tail lift into the air.

"Okay," Mandarin said, "Now, use it like a rudder, make it go to the left to make you walk to the right and vice versa. All the power you need is moving your feet to walk. Just think about the direction you want to go and your body will take care of all the rest." He dropped the white monkey's arms and the monkey seemed balanced. "Alright, now follow me."

He walked forward, keeping the white monkey in his peripheral vision. They walked into Skeleton King's quarters. "My lord," Mandarin brought the Skeleton's attention to him. "He is here."

The skeleton placed a hefty glance toward the white monkey. "Hello there," he said, with polite intent.

The orange eyes questioned him, "Do you know who I am?" he asked, "I can't remember who I am." He said.

"Yes," the skeleton said thoughtfully, "You are Chiro, once a part of the legendary monkey team. With many of their own falling in the last battle, they left you for dead after you were injured. Luckily, Mandarin here retrieved you and we managed to salvage your spirit and place it in another body. Apparently, your memories were not transferred as we hoped they would." He said.

Chiro crossed his arms, taking his time to assimilate the information. He could suddenly remember something. The memory was foggy, a voice and face with a semblance to Skeleton King's was laughing at a human with a huge hole in his abdomen. The human had big blue eyes, the skeleton said, "You were always the weakest link in the monkey team, pathetically mortal. You inflicted so much emotion that you… you yourself brought the downfall of the team upon them." He laughed even more as the boy looked up with tears in his eyes. The boy held his hands over the gaping hole in his abdomen.

"I did not bring their downfall!" he cried out, "They were my family, they watched out for me! I told them to leave me alone and escape but they didn't!"

The skeleton smiled cruelly, "Exactly," he speared the boy through the hole in his abdomen. "If it wasn't for you they would've gone away. They died because of you." He taunted.

He placed the boy back on the floor, "You killed the monkeys." The skeleton said. The boy's eyes grew wide with fear, a huge pain clutched him and he fell back, dead.

The white monkey looked back up at Skeleton King. "They didn't leave me!" he suddenly exploded, "You… you sent out your forces. You killed them and you tried to convince me that I killed them. You separated me and Antauri, it was you!" He suddenly had a questioning look in his eyes, "Why'd you bring me back to life though?" he asked.

The skeleton smiled, "I need you," he said,

"For what?" Chiro asked.

"To test out my new objects, I suppose you could call them that." He said with a dangerous smirk.

* * *

A/N: Oooh! I left you with a cliffy! And a big one at that! Togo is an OC type character, as James is specifically designed for this story. I didn't want to do the whole OC think 'cause I'm kind of unsure about her. But hey, who doesn't love evil henchwomen?  
Announcer bunny: What's Skeleton King going to use the new Chiro for? And are we gonna like it?

Chiro: YAY! I'm alive again! (supposedly anyway, I was never dead)

Mandarin: Did that 'new' body make me look fat? I swear, I know the camera adds ten pounds but...

Togo: Serriously, you made me sound way too overpeppy. I am not that friendly!  
(Sakko falls on floor and squeeks)  
Togo: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! SQUEEKY TOY! SQUEEKY TOY! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Chiro and Mandarin: OKAY... stay away from her...

All except Togo: **REVIEW!!!**

Me: No monkeys or minions were actually harmed in the making of this story. Thank you.


	5. Pt 5

A/N: Yes, I know, I still have cosmetic errors in the beginning, yes, I'm planning to fix them (sometime soon) and yes, I gave you two new chapters! Horray! I haven't had time to upload this one so I'm giving it all at once. I will fix the errors as soon as I can. For now though, enjoy!

Disclaimer: Um, sorry to say guys but the disclaimer guy that I hired got sick last friday so we have to find a temporary replacement. In the meantime, I'm sure he would've said that I don't own anything except the plot and occasional OOCness.

**The War was Lost**

Chapter 5: Destiny

Antauri rushed out to the command center, Sprx was watching the little boy. "Sprx! They were here!" he cried out.

"I know" Sprx said cautiously "I saw this morning. I don't have a clue how they did it but they did." He smiled. "Now, your chest will heal up and you'll be around a little longer."

"Yah know," Sprx said, "He looks a little like the kid."

"Yes, he does look somewhat like Chiro but the power primate does not flow through his veins. Or if it does, it's been diluted beyond measure." Antauri said

"I didn't understand about half the last sentence you said!" Sprx cried rhetorically.

"Never mind" the silver monkey said and sat down to watch the small child play with the sun riders action figures that once belonged to Chiro. Antauri smiled weakly, he could see Chiro in the place of the young boy, playing with the toys.

Antauri stood up, "Where are you going?" Sprx asked.

"To look around," he responded, seeming deep in thought. He began to walk away,

"Don't leave!" Sprx suddenly cried out.

Antauri whirled around and James looked up. Sprx had been quiet lately so the shriek surprised Antauri, "Sprx?" he asked, confused.

Sprx lowered his head, "Sorry," he mumbled. "It's just scary in here now, the robot feels so empty now that nobody is here. I don't want to be left alone."

Antauri smiled fondly at the red monkey, "Alright, I won't leave you. I'd probably get hyped up by something small anyway." He sat back down and the two watched the child play.

///

Inside the palace the revived Chiro struggled to free himself from the meek rope restraints that held him. Mandarin stalked in a semi-circle around the wall that Chiro was pinned to, _'still so pathetically human'_ he thought.

"Who are you anyway? You weren't on Skeleton King's crew before the attack…" Chiro asked.

"Au contraire boy, I beg to say my body has merely been reformatted. My identity is of unimportance though, after all, you won't have much time to loathe it very long after you hear it." Mandarin teased him, "Since you seem so desperate to know though, I'll give you a hint." He pulled out his laser, letting it's form flicker in front of the Chiro for a few seconds. He withdrew the laser into his hand again. Chiro's eyes widened, _'Could this be Mandarin?'_

He could almost remember the image Antauri burned into his mind, the plated, blue-lasered, shelided, orange-coated, black-eyed, red-pupiled monkey being attacked by the other five. He was struck by fear.

The door's opening quickened Chiro's heart rate, both prisoner and keeper stared at the door. Skeleton King strided in regally. Togo walked alongside on all fours. She sat down when Skeleton King came to a complete stop.

"Mandarin," the Skeleton demanded,

"Yes, my lord?" he replied,

"Where are your inventions?"

"Over here my lord, but if I may, I have a request for one to use."

"I'm listening," the skeleton said

Mandarin walked toward a wall and pushed a panel in on it. The wall slid open, Mandarin grabbed a thick silver collar from the opening and something else that held a semblance to a toy car's remote control. He held them up, "My latest invention." He said proudly.

"You expect _that_ to work?" the skeleton roared, "The last time you made something like that it failed!"

"Yes my lord, but this has been significantly improved and the boy cannot escape from it this time. He cannot even escape from these meek ropes, you expect him to escape from this? It is state-of-the-art and does not lose control unlike those first attempts, please my lord." Mandarin pleaded.

"Honor him your highness, for if it fails he will home in like a beacon to that silver pest and will shall rid ourselves of both of them in one fell swoop. It shouldn't be too hard, he has no more pathetic powers and that silver pest has death looming at his doorstep. A feather could knock him over." Togo said, seeming pleased with herself.

"I suppose that is an idea as I had little in mind anyway." The skeleton measured tentatively.

Mandarin grabbed a vial found within the cabinet and filled a needle found in the same location. He walked to Chiro with the needle and injected the solution in his arm. The solution burned, he kicked out and screamed before passing out.

"Now what?" Togo asked,

"We put him in a rigged cell." Mandarin replied

"Rigged?" she asked,

"We replace two of the bars in a cell with bendable metal, then he'll break out, we leave the doors unlocked and he'll escape by jumping the fence in the back."

"Won't he think it's too easy?" Togo asked,

"He's a robot now, he will assume he is stronger than before, it simulates real and fictious power…" Mandarin replied,

"Oh,"

"As I was saying," Mandarin said, clearing his throat, "He'll home like a beacon on that silver pest and we follow him there after he has allied to the menace and Sakko will take control over his body as son tragically turns on his father as we keep the silver menace contained so that the pest will die a horrible death by his son's hand. Then we will kill the son as well. Then there will be no more monkeys, no more heroes. Evil shall triumph." He said with a grin.

"It doesn't sound half-bad" Togo said,

"Sakko," Mandarin commanded, "Find a cell we can rig the bars in."

///

Chiro woke up much later in a cell. A sound of a clearing throat could be heard over a loudspeaker in the back of the room. The voice sounded like Mandarin's as it claimed, "Prisoner check! Prisoner check in five minutes!"

Chiro looked about him, he had to get out. Getting up in this new simian form was just as difficult as getting out would be. He placed his new mechanical hands beneath him pushing his torso from the ground. His arms wobbled and fell out from under him, sending him face first into the ground again.

Togo and Mandarin watched from security cameras. "This is pointless." The grey monkey hissed, "He can't even walk! You expect him to?"

Mandarin stared intently through it, "He will figure it out as his time dwindles."

Chiro gained another idea, he pushed himself up with his arms with amazing force, managing to pull himself into a sitting position over his nearly useless lower half. He attempted to pull out his feet from under him, now sitting in a nearly comfortable position. His new mechanical feet sat out in front of him, his arms at his sides, staring blankly ahead.

He looked toward his tail, _'Like it or not Chiro, you have to listen to what he said. Despite the fact that he's your worst enemy, he had to teach you to use your body. You have to get out, you have to listen to what he said!' _Chiro thought to himself.

He pulled it off the ground, pulling his feet under him, he pushed off the ground, bringing himself to a standing position. He stumbled forward, smashing into the cage bars and hanging on to stay upright.

He looked at his tail again, the accursed thing. Sure, children dreamed of having tails to be like their animal brethren, but the extra appendage was not what Chiro needed to rely so heavily on at the time. He wished to be a normal human again, void of a tail, to balance without the help of a tripping appendage.

He pulled himself up and began pulling on the bars. Carefully pulling all bar combinations available, there had to be a weak one.

He finally found it, the two bars before the last on the left side. He pulled at them as they slowly budged apart. He finally stopped, popping his head through the empty space between the bars. He carefully pulled the rest of his body through, painfully scraping his new tail as he forgot the existence of the appendage, again.

He pulled it up, breathing heavily as his artificial lungs expanded and collapsed with the automatic reflex from his human years. Carefully minding Mandarin's instructions and his new tail, Chiro made a break for it. Running out of the room and outside a door, Chiro looked around.

He sighed, smiling, he was outside. Even with everything they'd tried, even killing him, he had still escaped.

///

Inside the robot, Sprx and Antauri were cleaning up more of the blood again. And with a night's sleep under their belts, they felt at least a little better and could do more. Antauri closed his eyes again, he still felt exhausted.

Sprx smiled arrogantly at second-in-command. "Head up!" He said happily, "We're almost done!"

Antauri smiled back at the red monkey, his face seemed tired, "Yes." He acknowledged.

They picked up the pace upon cleaning, finally dumping the last dirty rag into the bloody water. Sprx dumped the last of the water into the fluids hold to be flushed out into space eventually.

Antauri wiped his forehead with a bloody hand, "I'd love to say I feel as fantastic as the floor." He said quietly.

Sprx nodded in agreement, even his own normally red fur had been darkened in places to a bloody crimson. "I'm gonna go take a shower," he said, promptly stalking off to do exactly as he said.

Antauri stared at his own pelt, tinted pink from the blood on the floor. He looked over to find the young child he had promised to take care of. He walked around, attempting to find the child, inspecting the command center heavily. He looked at all their armchairs, finally seeing the boy curled up in the orange one, sleeping again.

Carefully, he lifted the young child up and sat down in the chair, cradling the young child like a baby. He smiled wearily and then stared up past the ceiling. "If only you knew…" He whispered, "If only…"

///

On Shugazoom, the revived Chiro was running the streets, wild with newfound freedom. The tail thing _still _didn't make sense. He was having to use it, but not quite understanding how it worked, or to remember the appendage when he took a sharp turn.

He finally stopped, convinced that he'd dropped all pursuers that he may have had from Skeleton King's castle. He sat between two puddles of formless ooze that lined the long street. He had to communicate with Antauri, tell him he was alright. He thought secondarily about the COM Receptors, he had them too now, he could use them, right?

He closed his eyes concentrating hard, pushing a button that he found on the back of a receptor. They expanded, he smiled craftily, "Chiro to monkey team, Chiro to monkey team, monkey team report!" He said aloud. He awaited a response.

A heavy breathing came over the line in response to his message.

He blinked worriedly, "Who is this?" He asked, fear apparent in his voice.

The heavy breather finally answered, "What kind of mockery is this?" it asked, the voice was a tad raspy with a median pitch.

Chiro's face rolled over with relief, "Antauri?" He asked, "Are you okay?"

The voice stated it's question again.

Chiro looked downward at his mechanical feet, he could tell the voice. He knew it was Antauri. He closed his eyes, "Listen, I know it sounds weird Antauri but Skeleton King brought me back to life! He wanted to use me for his side, but I escaped!"

"No," Antauri's voice replied, "I- I buried you. I saw you last night. You're not alive!" He growled, haunted by the mere thought of Chiro risen again.

"I can prove it!" The snow white metallic monkey cried, "Just about a week ago, you were back in my room spilling your heart out to me about how bad you thought you were for dragging me into this thing while you thought I was asleep!"

Antauri's voice backfired with anger, "How did you know that?" He growled,

"I was there, in bed." Chiro whimpered timidly,

Antauri sighed, "Where are you?" He asked, "Because we can't be anywhere near enough for Skeleton King to see us."

Chiro looked around himself, seeing a nearly broken street sign, "At the intersection of… Mace and… Lighter." He said.

Antauri stared into the distance, "I'll see what we can do to come get you." He said and dropped the signal.

Chiro sighed, frustrated. Part of him wanted to do something while waiting for Antauri. Another part knew he had to sit there, or Antauri would never come.

///

Antauri looked about, Sprx was still in the shower and James was still sleeping. He carefully stood up and placed the child in the black armchair. He walked up to the main computer and left a computerized message for Sprx, recording the date and time that he left, it read:

"S.P.R.X.-77:

I am taking one of the hovercrafts down to Shugazoom to investigate a claim. If I do not return within the hour, do not come looking for me. Find a way to save Shugazoom.

Antauri

Departure date and time: May 11, 13:34:23"

With that the silver monkey turned and walked towards the ship bay. He boarded one of the small hovercrafts and took off toward the planet. Its blood red waters and colourless appearance made it even more intimidating. He flew down, piercing the atmosphere, praying that what he was going down to wasn't a trap.

Sprx came out from his shower, his fur renewed to its usual berry red. He saw the message and smiled at Antauri's brazenness to put it there. Especially right where the little child could see it. He looked at the clock, it had been five minutes since Antauri had left. He closed the message and sat down in his red chair. He suddenly smiled, pulling out Nova's diary from a pouch on his chair, he began to read through it again. Nova would have pounded him for this if she knew. He smiled comfortably though, after all, it wasn't like Nova's ghost would come to beat him up that night, right?

///

Antauri's hovercraft touched down near the intersection. He climbed out, suddenly self-conscious of his pink coat. He looked around the intersection, seeing the sign blow off of its post. He looked around him, this was the intersection of Mace and Lighter, now where did the supposed Chiro go?

* * *

A/N: Alms for the poor? Alms for the poor? Reviews for the writer? Accepting flames too? Alms and reviews? Alms and reviews? Please?  
No monkeys or minions were harmed in the making of this story.


	6. Pt 6

A/N: Here's the second chapter of my little influx. Ha! Most of this was written in my Spanish class lectures. Imagine, she didn't even notice once! Muahahaha! Don't forget to review! (Yes, I know there are still errors, it's only been a minute guys!) Yes, I am completely guilty of OOCness in this chapter. I do have my reasons, next chappie will be better, I promise! (And for sensitive readers, unfortunately Antauri does curse once in this chapter, with good reason of course.)  
Oh! And while you guys are reading (sorry, a little spoiler) I need you to think of a name Chiro might call himself other than Chiro and review at least the name, either that or if he should just call himself Chiro. It doesn't have to have a last name, just a first one (Anthony, Mark, etc.)

Disclaimer: The disclaimer guy quit. He found a job manning the register at some mom and pop shop. Oh well, I guess I'll have to do it now, I don't own anything, happy?

**The War was Lost**

Chapter 6: Gleaning Effort

Antauri looked around. The crossroads were empty, his eyes dulled, "False alarm." He whispered to himself.

A screech lit up the dead intersection. Boxes down the street that had blended in with the scenery had lit up brown and toppled over, making a mess and object of themselves. A pure white mass barely poked over their top. Antauri watched cautiously, preparing to dash from intruders if need be. He felt something tap at his senses, pleading, no _begging_ to get in. He ignored it, worn thin from everything that had done so before and ultimately failed him.

A box fell backwards, breaking once it hit the ground. The loud noise startled him, as the intersection had fallen silent again for a short period after the scream. Antauri let himself fall to four feet, tension was mounting by the moment, he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

Another box tipped. The white mass moved about, clumsily pushing down boxes. It finally dislodged one that sent the entire stack down, the clatter was especially loud due to the quiet, echoing atmosphere of the intersection. The mass remained stagnant; two emotions tugged him, one to investigate and another to flee. Fearful, he edged closer, keeping himself edged to a nearby building, any need to quickly hide or flee fulfilled.

He drew to it, scared to just see exactly what it was. There was no other way though. He carefully padded to it, peering into the mess of boxes to see a white lump. He looked down the street, no sign of Skeleton King activity. He carefully placed one hand on a box, hopping up a few of them to get to the lump. He poked it once, the lump shifted, beginning to rise. His eyes quickly dilated, he jumped off the stack, missing his perfect landing with his hand bent the wrong way, painfully landing on his wrist and tumbling over a time before coming to a stop.

"Damn it!" He growled, grasping his wrist in pain. The moving lump attracted his eyes again. He forced himself to disregard his injury, jumping to a four footed stance again to move out as quickly as he could if need be.

Another box tumbled forward, the snowy white lump finally followed it, coming to the ground. Antauri tentatively sniffed the air, the smell of fresh metal. He moistened his dry lips, carefully watching the lump uncurl itself into the form of a robot monkey. It looked uninjured. He finally dared question it.

"Who are you?" His words were cold, laced with a kind of venom that killed on contact.

The snowy simian shook, he had never heard such a horrid tone come from Antauri before. He finally opened his orange eyes, to give a look to the silver simian, one of that of pain or confusion.

Antauri seemed completely oblivious to the glance. He repeated his question in the same tone as before, "Who are you?"

The snowy simian finally pulled his hands beneath him, using the same tactic as before to sit semi-comfortably.

Antauri watched him, "Answer me!" He snapped.

The snow simian watched him, confused, his fur stiffened. Antauri never acted this way before. He wanted to speak, but just couldn't find a way to do so.

Antauri sat in a cat or doglike position, his tail wrapped tightly to his leg as if it was depending on the leg for life. He lifted his injured wrist, wondering how it would affect him later on as he waited for his response. He toyed with it to get an idea of if it were broken or not. Of course, as expected, the pain made it hard to determine if it was.

He looked back up, clearly annoyed by the white simian. "I'm giving you five seconds to say something. One… two… three… four…"

"SQUEEEK!" The simian yelped.

Antauri gave the simian a strange look. He knew that Skelton King's normal robotic simians didn't squeak. In fact, most adult simians didn't squeak, they had better ways of communicating, squeaking was considered to be a thing done by very young simians and some overly dramatic females a little later in life.

He watched the simian for a second. He let out a deep sigh. He walked over, standing at the snowy simians back. His head knelt down, Chiro's mind raced in fear, what was Antauri planning to do? Teeth sunk into his neck, the young simian squeaked again. Antauri dragged the young simian to the hovercraft, suspiciously watching for cameras or any form of visual upon them.

Once at the hovercraft, Antauri dropped the simian and stood up to two feet. Using his good hand he grabbed the young simian and hauled him into the passenger seat. He strapped him into the seat and walked to the driver's side and pulled himself into it, forcing himself to use his disabled hand to prepare the hovercraft for flight. He looked at the simian in the passenger seat, "You know, if you don't tell me your name pretty quickly I'm going to have to start calling you Squeaky, since that's the only thing you've done so far. Well, that, and knock over boxes." He said as they flew back to the super robot.

No response came to him on the trip back. They entered the ship bay, by the time of their exit from the hovercraft, Sprx was awaiting them.

Sprx immediately noticed Antauri's wrist. He pulled up Antauri's arm, "You were supposed to come back unharmed, not un-ARMED!" He joked at the injury.

"Ha ha." Antauri said dryly. He motioned to the hovercraft, "I found someone on the intersection of Mace and Lighter, I'm guessing an illegitimate. I need some help getting him in, as you can clearly see, my hand isn't of much use to me currently."

Sprx got a horrified look, "You can't just bring home any old monkey off the streets! He could be a spy for Skeleton King or one of his robot puppets that's just waiting to get close enough and then, _bam_! You're dead on the floor or injured then the rest of us ain't going anywhere. You understand? If he's a spy for Skeleton King then we're screwed! You can't be that random!"

"We're screwed anyway." Antauri said dismissively, "And if he is a spy, then we'll dispose of him, not that I think he is."

"Why don't you think so? Humans couldn't stand him, our allies couldn't stand him, heck, even we couldn't stand him. We're out in space with our tails between our legs. You think some rouge little monkey is gonna have the power to do what millions of others couldn't?" Sprx asked.

"We do not know that. However, he's too weak to be a spy. His physical strength is depleted, he is unscathed and yet was sitting completely incapable. No spy would dare do that unless they were on their last leg and finally fading. This fellow is far from it."

"Would wonder how he held out so long then." Sprx remarked emptily.

Antauri returned to the topic at hand, "Can you pull him inside? I'm going to get a wrap for my wrist. I think I sprained it when I jumped wrong."

Sprx nodded and opened the door to the hovercraft, pulling out the white simian. The familiar aura seemed to pass him by in the wind. "Boy," He said as he walked them in, "You sure are lucky. Any longer and Skeleton King would have had you hook, line, and sinker." He placed the snow simian in the blue chair, to provide some contrast and keep a good eye on the newcomer. "So," he asked, "You got a name, can you speak?"

The orange-eyed simian blinked, now wondering if it was even safe to reveal his name, much less if he wanted to.

Sprx sat down in his podchair, "I'm not leaving until I get an answer," He said persistently.

The young simian blinked again, just taking in the surroundings.

Sprx pointed to his COM Receptors, "Are you deaf?" He asked.

"No!" The white simian answered involuntarily.

Sprx sat back, "Now we're getting somewhere." He said.

"I – I…" The snow simian stuttered.

"You sound familiar…" Sprx said, his eyes closed. He looked over again, "C'mon, you gotta have a name."

"I'm calling him Squeaky."Antauri said, walking in with a braced wrist. "He wouldn't talk to me and he squeaked, so I'm calling him Squeaky."

"I'm glad you're not a father. You can't name anything." Sprx retorted.

"I just did!" Antauri replied,

"You have a Koifish named Koi. You're zen garden's named Rocky. Dude, I've never seen you name something with the slightest bit of imagination. Ha! If we hadn't had that communicator I wonder whatchya woulda called Chiro? Human? Boy? That kid was clueless." He paused to draw in a breath, "And you're hopeless!"

Antauri looked disheartened.

"Oh don't look at me like that! You can't look disheartened, you don't even have a heart!" Sprx fired playfully.

Antauri became cold, "Stop teasing me." He said.

"Oh have a heart." Sprx teased

Antauri cast him an evil glare.

Sprx put his hands up and looked to the snow simian, "Alright, so, uh, what do we do about erm… Squeaky here?"

"I would look into his memories, but not yet. It is too invasive and as both of us know, rouge males can get territorial, especially a weak alpha without his troop."

"Kinda like you?" Sprx asked.

"No." He ruffled the fur on Sprx's head, "I have my troop, no matter how big it is."

"I guess I'll take back about you being like Mandarin. You ain't half bad. But we need to figure out how to get Shugazoom back. You know we can't raise this kid out here and the oxygen in this place ain't gonna last forever either."

Antauri nodded, he could tell Sprx was done fooling around and back on topic again.

Sprx sat in his red armchair, he pulled out the small book and flipped it open. He looked up after scanning a page, "You know Nova had the hots for Mandi before he started drinking?"

"Yes," Antauri replied, "You seemed to be the only one oblivious to that because you liked her. Unfortunately, she got more than she bargained for after he started drinking."

"Well sor-ry! Sheesh! Expect me to get everything. I'm only monkey. Just thinking about Mandarin makes my muscles ache." Sprx fired back.

"He's gone now. Keep reading, you're quieter that way." Antauri stated.

"Humph." Sprx looked back down.

"What happened to everyone?" A voice asked.

Antauri looked up, looking in the direction of the snow monkey. "Did you speak?" He asked.

"What happened… to everyone?" He asked again.

"You did speak." Antauri said.

The question was repeated a third time.

Antauri didn't know how to answer it, "The rest of the team…" He chose his words carefully, "Moved onto greener pastures."

"Oh," The snow simian said.

Antauri stared through him, "You sound young, who are you?"

* * *

A/N: Reviews? Reviews? Reviews? Do it for Antauri and Chiro and Sparky and this guy here -) =3 ? Okay? YAY! Reviews please, and I need some flames too, I'm having a barbecue and I'm short on fuel. All reviews and flames accepted. Oh, and don't forget! I need a vote on a name for Chiro to call himself or to call himself by Chiro? Play with that idea for now!

Ciao for now! Come back soon for another installment of The War was Lost! (I know, I'm overpeppy right now...)  
No monkeys or minions were harmed in the making of this story...


	7. Pt 7

A/N: Er... late Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Hanukkah and Kwanzaa? I missed my influx date but you guys get two whole chapters! YAY!!!! Well, at least, kind of spread out. I'm submitting the other one tomorrow morning. I'm a little upset that nobody reviewed to give me names, so I came up with something else, kind of cheesey, not very imaginative, but it worked

Disclaimer: Yeah yeah yeah, I don't own it. Actually, I own nothing until I'm 18, so there!

**The War was Lost**

Chapter 7: Lying for Life

Chiro looked around, he had to respond quickly, "I'm Ch-"

Antauri eagerly awaited the answer, half-hoping he knew the answer.

Chiro quickly picked up on this, he nervously looked around, he had some questions that couldn't be asked by 'Chiro.' "-ad. Chad. Uh, Chad. Yeah, Chad." He smiled calmly.

Sprx smiled, "So this is who you went to get?" He asked.

Antauri swallowed, Sprx would call him crazy if he told the truth, "Yes, he didn't tell me his name initially. But I did sense his sincerity." He did his best to smile, "He must have been shocked by the loss of his troop. It's no wonder he squeaked."

Sprx looked over at the screen to view the haunting silhouette of Shugazoom, "Right, _that_ Chad." He sat back in his chair, "So, how's Miss Daisy? Or is she dead too?" He sighed, "Man, I did not expect that attack on the isle. Bet you didn't either."

Chiro let out a nervous smile, "Yeah, Daisy's dead. It's really unfortunate but I've been wandering around for the last while because the barrier broke. Shugazoom's just dead." He didn't know Chad, but obviously the team knew someone who looked just like him named Chad.

Sprx sighed, "It's a shame. She was such a sweet little girl, pretty parasol she always flaunted. Heck knows I wish me and Nova could have been like you and Daisy." He chuckled, "What was I thinking, Daisy wouldn't have survived the night if she knew that Skeleton King was around, much less attacking head-on. It must have hit you real hard to lose her."

"Yeah…" He looked down. He didn't really know what to say, he didn't know this Daisy. He didn't know Chad. He had to just play the part and hope they didn't figure things out.

Sprx cocked his head, "You don't remember her, do you?" He asked, "You're being really apathetic Chad."

Chiro lowered his head, "I'm sorry, it's been so long. I've just been moving forward. I can't look back."

"Not so tough now. Huh? And you said I'd be begging for mercy first. Hm? Looks like that little gang of yours didn't go very far after all." Sprx countered, bringing up the old subject that he must have spoken with the real Chad.

"I can't really remember." Chiro lied, he really didn't want to reminisce about this Chad fellow. He had made up the name, now he had to cover his butt and lie about it. He forced himself to smile, "The past doesn't really matter now though. The point is we're together and we can take on the threat we're facing."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, _we_? Take this on _together_?" Sprx asked, "Sorry but no. Not right now at least. Listen up Chad, I know you won't believe me, but we just lost the majority of our troop and our human. Nova, Otto and Gibson are all gone." He suddenly grinned with a bout of odd humour, "And Antauri's half gone."

"Sprx…" Antauri growled, "Shut up."

Sprx grinned nervously, "Oh c'mon! I'm playin' with yah!" Antauri didn't return his comment, "Fine," Sprx pouted, "You deal with the dominant stuff, I'll have fun."

Antauri nodded. He squinted, "Now that the formalities are over. We do have to make a course of action, as you pointed out earlier Sprx, the oxygen in here won't last forever. Neither will the neutron generators power."

Sprx closed his eyes and nodded, "We should probably get to work, you too Chad." He opened his eyes, "So Antauri, you've been to headquarters, you got any ideas?"

"I haven't been inside but I've been in the prison yard. Most of the Shugazoomians are living there unharmed. Skeleton King's castle is just beyond the yard. At this point, the only way it seems possible to overcome him is to pull together a mob mentality by taking out the guards and freeing the Shugazoomians. Then we rile up the Shugazoomians to bring down Skeleton King." He said,

Sprx laughed, "You're kidding, right?" He asked, "We couldn't bring him down that way! We would lose millions of Shugazoomians and most likely us too. You have to come up with something better than that!"

"Sprx, that's all I have. I know only as much as you do with the exception of most of Shugazoom's residents and how everyone else died. The rest is anyone's guess. I hate to put down my rank but you and I are fairly equal now. Rank doesn't matter anymore, surviving and winning this war does." Antauri replied.

'Chad' perked up, "I've been inside there! I went in there for some reason, I can't remember for what though. I remember some of the layout though…"

"Tell us what you know." Antauri demanded.

"Um… do you have anything to sketch it with?" He asked.

Sprx pulled up a program, pulling down the computer screen, "Start from a room and then branch off from that."

Chiro began to layout Skeleton King's palace in great detail, marking everything he had been able to remember from the combination of when he was brought in and when he was revived. And surprisingly, it came out rather well for what little time Chiro had spent in the castle. He sat back, "Wow, who knew adrenaline could give you that good a photographic memory?" He asked.

"Well of course," Sprx said, "But you might want to let Antauri catalog your orb before it builds up and corrupts."

"What do you mean?" Chiro asked, not quite in the robot monkey loop.

"Well, I mean, don't you remember?" Sprx asked, "Or did the Shaman forget about the orbs?"

"Um…" Chiro could only flail helplessly on that topic.

"He doesn't." Antauri said, staring at the monkey.

"Well, shouldn't you help him before he forgets this too?" Sprx asked, looking at the silver monkey.

Antauri sighed, "I suppose I should. Actually, I believe you are due for a cataloging as well. Seeing as you consistently ask not to be left alone, bring James as well, I don't want another run-in with Nova again."

Sprx shuddered, he walked over to the green chair, pulling up the small body of the sleeping youngster.

Antauri stood, running his hand over his stitched wound and motioning for them to follow. Sprx was first to rush behind, Chiro followed the second after.

They walked into Antauri's room, a telekinetic motion sent wall-mimicking curtains. He took the child from Sprx's arms, "Sit," he ordered and jumped across the stream, tucking him into a rather natural looking bed.

He jumped back over to the sitting Sprx, who looked as though he was getting ready to mock Antauri's meditation habits, or trying to meditate himself.

Antauri pushed in a panel that slid back part of the wall to reveal a tall storage compartment. He pulled out a drawer, pulling out a dark crimson orb and split it in half, holding it in the palm of his hand. His other hand began to glow the bright green of the power primate, he placed it to Sprx's forehead, the red monkey became rigid and the green light filled his eyes. A black orb with a green halo phased through the silver monkeys hand, Sprx whined uncomfortably, grinding his teeth in an attempt to hamper some sort of pain from the procedure.

Antauri appeared to ignore Sprx's pained reaction and had continued the procedure. He split the orb apart, pulling out a thick gas from the orb that moved like liquid, telekinetically he channeled it into the crimson orb which lit up red. He telekinetically lifted the red orb and placed it into the drawer again.

A fine black dust split from the red orb and raced back into the black orb, allowing it to reconnect and phase through Antauri's hand and into Sprx's body again. The light faded from Sprx's eyes and Antauri's hand, allowing both to regain knowledge of the world outside again. Antauri seemed indifferent, "You dramatize too much." He stated.

"Well, try nearly getting neutered and you'd learn to make noise too!" Sprx fired back,

"I'd doubt that I would have that problem, I would never have aggravated Nova that much in the first place." Antauri stated matter-of-factly,

"Well, you wouldn't have been able to help it if she took a sentence the wrong way after she'd had a tough day." Sprx whined,

"I doubt she'd take out that anger on you if you hadn't aggravated her on previous occasions which justified her actions." Antauri countered,

Sprx looked just about to counter Antauri again but stopped. "Fine." He stated, "I'll just uh… make sure James didn't wake up."

Antauri nodded and looked at Chiro, "Well Chad, I guess you're next. I promise it isn't as bad as Sprx made it sound. He overacts." He stated with one of those cheesy doctor grins that they give when they say that the shot won't hurt. He motioned to the ground, "If you could kindly sit?" He asked, ready to get back to business.

Chiro idled for a nervous second, then carefully sat. Antauri looked through the drawers for a spare orb. He growled as he remembered that he had previously destroyed them. He opened a final drawer, pulling out a dark orange orb. "I'm afraid I'll have to use one of Mandarin's orbs. He hasn't been with the team in a while, frankly, I'm not even sure why I kept them, in hopes he'd come back?" He let out a soft and short-lived husky chuckle, "Not sure why I would have wished that,"

"Because you hoped we'd get some other robot monkey leader when Mandarin left." Sprx answered for him, "I remember you emptied them after Mandarin left for Nova's sake."

"Yes." Antauri stated, "But now, that hope is no longer relevant."

He cracked the orange orb open to reveal it's blank insides. Holding it in his hand the other began to channel the power primate's energy. He placed his hand to Chiro's head to begin his process again.

Blackness overtook Chiro's eyes, leading him into a dream world where only the black veil was tangible. A sudden pain overtook his body, the feeling of some part of him that wasn't supposed to come out was being yanked from his body. He attempted some human remedies, childishly pulling away, yelling out, nothing. He found his body paralyzed, shut down from the outside.

A lightheadedness came across him for a small period of time. Finally the feelings of pain and lightheadedness faded away. The paralysis subsided and the light of the outside world flooded his eyes. Antauri smiled, "Not that bad?" He asked,

Chiro nodded numbly and managed to get himself to sit up again. He looked around, looking for some sort of visual cue of how to stand up without any support. Antauri was already rummaging through the drawers. Sprx walked over, looking down expectantly. "Aren't you going to get up?" He asked, "Antauri's done with you, you don't need to remain sitting."

Chiro's face reddened, "Well, uh… I, um… will you sit down with me? I wanted to ask you some questions."

Sprx nodded and sat down. He watched Chiro to see if he would say something.

Chiro sat there, "Um… I forgot."

Sprx's eyes narrowed. He slapped his tail to the ground and stood up.

Chiro copied the actions down to the tail slap. Sprx looked at him curiously and watched the monkey crumble back down to the floor without the upper body strength and coordination to support himself. Sprx suddenly burst out laughing, Antauri seemed to pay the red simian no heed while he shuffled about taking care of his own business.

"What's so funny?" Chiro mumbled,

Sprx managed to stop laughing after a few seconds of calming time, "You… you forgot how to use the suit!" He cried,

Antauri turned around, he helped Chiro to his feet, supporting him for a few seconds, "It's not all that funny." He stated coldly,

Sprx didn't respond.

"I said that it's not all that funny." He repeated,

Sprx continued laughing.

"I said SHUT UP!" Antauri growled dominantly.

Sprx immediately stopped. He suddenly smirked evilly, "Oh, not the weak alpha… really?"

Antauri snapped straight, realizing that he was beginning to stray from his normally dominant disposition. He walked toward the door, "Sprx, get James, we all need to plan."

Sprx grabbed James and looked at Antauri, "Why and what?"

Antauri took James from Sprx's arms, "Skeleton King's army took our food and anything else edible without being cannibalistic. We need to plan a raid."

"Where?" Chiro asked,

"The only place that's likely to have food." Antauri reasoned, "Skeleton King's castle."

Both Chiro and Sprx gasped.

* * *

A/N: I know, bad me... I've made Antauri OOC, I know Chiro was supposed to be the leader of the monkey team but I always thought of Antauri as the leader, he just let Chiro shout the commands. But just think... Antauri lost nearly his whole troop. I'd be kind of edgy if I was in his shoes too. As far as the name 'Chad'? I couldn't think of anything else! Don't bite me! Next chappie up tomorrow!

Announcer Bunny: Will the team ever figure out that Chad is Chiro? Will something go wrong with the raid? And what about the ghosts?

Everyone: Press the green button!

Me: No monkeys or minions were harmed in the making of this story.


	8. Pt 8

A/N: Warning: This chapter contains extreme references to actual monkey/animal behavior. Why? Because I felt like it. I read tons of stories entailing human issues on SRMTHFG and very few involving the animal aspect. I partially did it to estrange Chiro too, make it more obvious he was never a monkey. I'll probably play human personification next chapter, but for now! Horay for being an outcast! Oh, and yes, please review, flames accepted too, do not mind the un-updated first few chapters that ask not to flame. Constructive Criticism as well peoples, I love to see what I can do to improve!

Disclaimer: Santa Clause bought me SRMTHFG for Christmas! NOT!!! That's why I must still post all derivative works on here.

**The War was Lost**

Chapter 8: You're One of Us Now

The raid had been planned. Unfortunately, James would have to stay behind because of his young age. It was set for the next day. They would rest tonight. They stayed up for a while longer, plotting how the raid would fall, should they encounter one being or another or a group of beings. It would work, they were sure that the raid was fool-proof.

Antauri decided the time to turn in. It was early for the typical set-up, but post-war would have a new schedule. An entirely new schedule. Antauri held James' hand as he readied the team for bed. He took Chiro into the nostalgic pod room, issuing him to use Mandarin's pod for charging and sleeping.

Sprx looked at Antauri submissively as Antauri began to walk for his pod to sleep early. "Antauri?" He asked softly,

Antauri turned to look at him, "Yes?" He asked,

"Do you think we could all sleep together tonight?" He asked,

"Why?" Antauri asked,

"Well… the ghosts… they're around here and they say there's safety in numbers… so they wouldn't hurt anyone…" He whined,

Antauri closed his tired eyes for a moment and looked over at Chiro, "Chad, do you want to come with us?" He asked,

Chiro looked up and nodded, following Sprx, Antauri and James into Antauri's room. They jumped the small stream and Antauri brought the two earthen looking beds together, watching them fuse down the center into one. They piled into a big lump on the bed, James stuck in the middle of Sprx and Antauri who had curled together for warmth. Chiro laid across the heads of the bunch and laid there watching the others fall into dreamless sleeps. Sleep finally claimed his body as he thought over his choice of calling himself Chad. Sure, Chiro and Chad were close but they weren't the same.

Midnight crossed the boundary and a strange sound awoke both Antauri and Chiro from sound sleeps. They looked around to see the bed encircled in pale expressionless ghosts. 'Chad' shuddered. Antauri closed his eyes again, "There are dreamcatchers on the walls," He muttered and began to fall back to sleep. Chiro placed his head down and closed his eyes, dreamcatchers were supposed to ward off evil spirits, he managed to convince himself that they wouldn't do anything and fell back to sleep.

Morning came early and even Antauri had seemed to relinquish the question of waking up early for a few extra hours of sleep. His eyes closed and he drifted into his dreamless sleep again, waiting until the rest of the 'team' would wake.

Sprx shook him awake later. The red monkey looked nearly panicked, "I thought you were dead or something!"

Antauri lifted his head, "No. I just decided it was best for us all to get a good night's rest rather than playing the welcoming committee."

"I'm hungry." James whined.

A look of sorrow came to Antauri's face. He had failed to protect his team, and along with it, their resources. "You'll have to wait until after the raid for food." He said quietly, "I'm afraid our supplies were taken when we surrendered."

"You surrendered?" Sprx exclaimed,

Antauri's face plastered with guilt, "I- I- I—"

"You what?" Sprx growled,

Antauri looked at the ground, "I wanted Chiro to survive." He whispered and audibly swallowed,

"So you just gave up?" Sprx asked harshly,

"I'm sorry." Antauri replied, "I thought he would. He was badly injured but I was confident that the wound could be repaired if he didn't lose too much blood and the battle stopped."

"What about the others? Didn't you care enough for them too? If you we're going to surrender, you could have done it before anyone died!"

Antauri flinched at every venomous word that spurted from Sprx's mouth.

Chiro decided to stand in-between them, "Every war has casualties." Then, remembering his false identity, "I'm sure Antauri thought he was doing right by continuing to battle after a few of his comrades fell. It was only when he felt that he was the only one left and could have saved someone else that he caved in. It's not easy being the only one left."

Sprx contemplated this for a second. "Fine." He looked toward the door, "Don't we have a raid to go on? I know I'm hungry and I'm sure that kid is too."

Antauri nodded, "We should probably get going if we intend on handling the raid with as much care as we planned it."

They got up to leave, Antauri gave a spare communicator to James to request help if something went wrong. With a last look at the super robot behind them they took off into the freezing air of space, looking towards the practically doomed planet to find supplies.

'Chad' looked at them, "So, how long have you two been together before I came?"

"A day, maybe two." Sprx replied, "I'm sure it's nothing compared to your troop though."

Chiro didn't respond. They rushed through the atmosphere of Shugazoom, finding the dead planet underneath. They hadn't been above Shugazoom for weeks, and not only did the city look awful, the entire planet looked horrible too.

"We're closing in on Skeleton King's castle." Antauri reported to the two of them,

"I don't see anything!" Sprx muttered, "Why are we so low to the ground so far away?"

Antauri brought the group to a landing at the intersection of Mace and Lighter. "We are going to walk from here." He began to poke through the mess of boxes that Chad had collapsed. He was so sure Chiro had contacted him, he told him _right here_. Had Chad accidentally killed him? Where was the body?

"What are you looking for?" Sprx asked as he jumped on top of the mess of boxes Antauri was going through.

He stopped. Then lifted his head. _What was he looking for?_ It seemed such an obvious question. Was he looking for a dead body? Didn't he know the cause of death? Chiro had bled out. It was too simple. He was human. He couldn't survive to bleed from that big a wound. Maybe he had heard Chiro instead of Chad, maybe he'd willed it, forged an entire conversation in his delusional head. It seemed worth pinning to. "I can't remember." He lied and turned around, falling to four feet and dashing ahead, Sprx was quick to follow.

Chad, on the other hand, had to attempt to mimic the position and follow with an odd cantering gait. He managed to catch up to the two at a stop where Sprx was attempting to push open a rusty hose valve – without much luck. Whatever resident that _had_ lived in this house had obviously not used the hose in years.

"C'mon!" Sprx exclaimed at the valve, "All this for a drink of water?" The valve finally pulled open, sending the red monkey back a foot or two. He grinned to watch water begin to flow out of the hose's mouth. He attempted to undwind the hose, giving only a few centimeters for the mouth to the hit the ground and stop. He lapped up the water greedily, stopping only to take a deep breath before drinking again.

He finally stood down, "It's well water, cold, but good." He said, obviously attempting to advertise the water to the others.

Antauri took a hesitant step toward it, and then backed away, "James is counting on us. We can bring some back in bottles, but later. Standing still makes us easier targets."

Sprx ran back over to the valve and closed it, then proceeded to chase after Antauri, who had already taken off. Chiro rushed after them, no way was he getting left behind this time!

* * *

A/N: Yeah, I'm making you wait one more chapter for the raid. I decided to play in some robot monkey stuff that Chiro doesn't know about and make him look even more human! I promise, next chapter is raid stuff. Here's your little helping of stuff for now. And now that my huge project (another unposted 30 chapter rated MA thing that WILL NEVER be posted here) is done, I can actually work on the stuff for here! Hurrah!

Announcer Bunny: I got nothin' see last chappie for all my questions.

Me: Review now! Constructive Criticism and Flames too! (Yessie, I like my constwuctive cwriticism)

No monkeys or minions were harmed in the making of this story.


	9. Pt 9

A/N: Wow... that was another fun Hiatus... well, I've actually had this puppy just sitting on my compy for some time now, I just never got around to uploading it. So I'm giving you chapters Nine and Ten A (yeah, I decided to split chappie ten into two based on length... _and _an awesome cliffhanger!

Disclaimer: Yeah yeah yeah, I don't own it. Actually, I own nothing until I'm 18, so there!

**The War was Lost**

Chapter 9: Collared

"They're coming to us." Togo observed as she watched the geolocator on the collar come closer and closer to the castle. "Hm… I should have figured so when the formless came back with food after the attack. I'll have to get that remote. This should be most interesting."

_///_

They came unto the citadel. They watched all the guards, Antauri hissed softly. He turned around, "I'll divert the guards, both of you get inside and go for the citadel, don't look at the prisoners." He directed, "Don't try and fight, just run, I'll take care of any guards."

Sprx nodded.

Antauri rushed into the open, he ran to the guard, jumped up and pounced the guard, rebounding off the armour. It turned around to see what had pounced it like a cat. Immediately, it caught sight of Antauri. Antauri smirked as the foolish guards started to chase him as he led them farther from their posts. He escaped into the underbrush of a dense bush, heartbeat pounding in his ears as he listened for the retreat of the guards.

They were poking at the brush, _'No!'_ Antauri thought, _'They can't take this long!'_

He dashed out from behind the bush, managing to escape the guards out of view. He rushed after the two dashing up ahead.

The group pulled together at the side of the citadel. Sprx was dismantling a ventilation shaft. He pulled it open, crawling inside. Chiro darted in next, Antauri coming in at a close third. He pulled the shaft up behind him to hide all evidence they had gone in.

They crawled along the shaft until they found an exit, it was right in the hall Chiro remembered! They crawled out, and looked around. "We remember the plan?" Antauri asked,

The two nodded. They began to walk toward their target, they stopped at their first target, the room Chiro claimed had all of the equipment in it.

Sprx looked to Chiro, "You're absolutely positive this is the right place?" He asked nervously,

Chiro nodded. Antauri pulled the door open silently, the room was blank. Sprx gave the snowy simian an angry glance.

"It's all hidden in the walls!" He backed himself, pointing to them. Too loud, Antauri clasped his hand over Chiro's mouth.

"Keep it down Chad!" Sprx whispered.

Antauri released him, Chiro looked around, the silver simian sighed. "We didn't attract any attention." He whispered. "Now, show us how to get to the weapons."

Chiro walked to a panel and began to poke at it. Finally, it opened to reveal a stash of weapons hidden behind a sheet of glass. He motioned to it, "See?" He said quietly.

Sprx walked forward, carefully inspecting the glass, "There are sensors on it. An alarm will go off if we break it."

Antauri frowned, "This is no good. We will have to find a way to bypass them." He transformed his hand into a claw,

"With that?" Sprx asked, pointing to the claw.

Antauri nodded, phasing his claw through with surgical precision. His hand locked around a weapon, watching it turn the hint of his phasing magenta color. The door opened.

Togo was standing in the doorway, she yawned loudly, giving Antauri the chance to pull his hand out, which he took. She looked up, pretending to just have noticed them. 'Oh dear…" She muttered, "More work?"

She looked between them, her expression static, "Well Chad, what are you waiting for?" She asked, "Don't tell me that you couldn't destroy them on your own!" She put her hand to her forehead.

Chiro looked to Antauri and Sprx, who now looked more than ready to attack him. "What are you talking about?" He asked, "Why do you think I'm with them? Because, I'm not with you." He replied to his own question.

She hissed, "Really?" She asked, "You tried to run away again?" She put her hands on her hips, "Maybe I should persuade you otherwise then."

She pulled up the controller for the collar. She pushed at button on it, causing the snow simian to squeak out in pain. However, the simian fell eerily silent afterwards. "Foolish child." She said quietly and began to work 'Chad's' body against them. She yawned at the uninteresting display, nothing but advances and retreats. This lifeless ragdoll provided no pleasure to destroying the last two hyperforce members.

She eased the collar up, allowing some degree of consciousness over the body. 'Chad' came back to mental capacity. His body struck out at the simians. The pained expression on his face was completely contrary to what his body was doing. She grinned, giving Chad control of speech, _'This should be most interesting to watch now.'_ She thought as she fiddled with the controls.

Chiro struck out at his teammates, causing Sprx to jump up and rebound off the nearest wall, "Sorry!" He whined as he lashed out at Antauri.

The silver simian jumped and put his arms around the snow simian's neck, restraining him, "Sprx!" He growled, motioning to the dull grey simian holding the remote.

The berry simian nodded and began to rush after the dull grey one.

"Oh no you don't!" She growled and forced the control to pour words out of the snow simian's mouth as Sprx grabbed her, magnet stuck to the back of her head,

"No! Don't hurt her!" 'Chad' immediately tried to protect her.

She grinned, looking over, "What?" She asked, "Now you care about me?" She asked between clenched teeth, "Looks like it's a little late to thank me for sparing your ass."

Chiro desperately wished to stop the words pouring from his mouth, "I'm sorry! I just… I wanted… to do… AAARGGHH!" He screamed.

He turned around, "Stupid robot!" He growled and stomped on Antauri's foot, earning release. He rushed over, breaking the glass that held the weapons, he grabbed a sharp object, thrusting it at the silver monkey, it made contact, piercing armour, blood gushing out of the wound.

"Antauri!" Sprx yelped, his grip loosening on the henchmonkey.

Antauri stared at the wound, watching himself bleed as Chad watched the blood as it rose around the end of the stick.

Togo pulled away as Sprx rushed over to his disadvantaged comrade. She looked at him, "Well, what are you waiting for Chad?" She asked,

Chiro looked down, the painful scene below. Sprx was holding Antauri up to keep him from falling back and creating an even larger wound. Hatred could be seen in Sprx's eyes.

Antauri was staring up at the weapon holder, his view dizzied as his pupils darted from place to place as he attempted to fix upon Chad's form. "You made it all up…" He asked, "Every word of that conversation." He looked down, "Hm…" He looked back up, "At least I know I wasn't hallucinating."

"What are you waiting for? Tomorrow? Finish him off already!" Togo barked,

The pure hatred from Sprx, the weakness of Antauri, he had to fight back! He pushed against the control of the collar, only managing to stalemate and keep himself from pushing the blade any further in.

A thought rushed his mind, _'What if I played along? To buy them some time?'_ He managed to speak, "Why would I want to rush?" He asked, his facial expression turning malevolent.

* * *

A/N: Sorry... I couldn't resist the part with Antauri saying Chiro made everything up! Hey, I had to give Antauri some peace of mind about that transmission! And, I know I didn't make it incredibly clear about how Togo figured out how Chiro was calling himself Chad... she was listening from outside. I wanted to put that in here somewhere but I didn't know exactly where... so, she was outside in case you wondered.

Now! To chapter 10a! I need not put the announcer bunny here... he will appear in the next chapter. Go read!


	10. Pt 10a

A/N: So… I split this thing into two parts because I've been maintaining an average chapter length so I didn't really want to break it with this huge thing which is double average length. **Warning: the next part of this chapter contains fairly graphic (blood, violence) materials, if this makes you squeamish, please skip over it (obviously). Skipping it should not put you in too bad a position as not to be able to understand chapter 11.  
**When I say fairly graphic... I mean very graphic, worse than chapter one or chapter nine or this coming chapter, you have been warned!** _Read and Review!_**

Disclaimer: Yeah yeah yeah, I don't own it. Actually, I own nothing until I'm 18, so there!

**The War was Lost**

Chapter 10a: Ridicule

"There's only two of them, and I'm sure we wouldn't want to waste them. There's so much we can do with them." Chiro said.

Togo smiled, "Ah, How brilliant of you. I didn't think of torturing them. You may have had your rough spots, but it seems you got them worked out now."

"Come, let us bring them down to the brig." Togo said, motioning toward the door.

Chiro nodded, pulling out the staff from the silver simian. Blood immediately trickled from the wound. He pulled the silver and red simian's to their feet. "Come," he said gruffly and pulled them along.

**///**

Antauri hung his head in shame, they were _this_ close! Sprx sat next to him, he put his arm around his silver comrade. "At least we're alive." He said, "We could be dead."

Sprx could barely look at the wound. It looked too painful, and yet the silver monkey was still standing. "Why would Chad just betray us like that?" he asked.

Antauri looked up, "He was probably sent to destroy me after I escaped." he replied.

"Well I guess we're doomed then." Sprx said.

Antauri nodded glumly.

The door to the brig opened, Chiro walked in. He walked to the cell, "Look, I'm really sorry about earlier."

Sprx just shot him an evil glare. "And just why do you think we should trust you now?"

"How about because I'm the one who can get you out of here." Chiro replied, "I said what I did because I didn't want to kill Antauri." He put his hand up to his neck, "I couldn't control myself before. I didn't want anyone else to die!"

Sprx looked down at the wound, "Well, that doesn't change a thing, now does it?" He asked.

Chiro hung his head. The door opened again, "Are you finished staring at the prisoners?" Togo asked, "We have a schedule you know. You can't hang around here all day."

"I'll come. When I'm done, and I'm not now." He replied.

"Fine, but I better not see you in cahoots with them again or I will kill you." She said and closed the door behind them.

He looked back at the pair sympathetically, "I'll figure out how to get medical attention down to you, Antauri." He looked up, "It might even require you guys pretending to be evil but I'll figure it out."

Antauri looked up, "Playing evil seems like the safest idea. I doubt if Skeleton King would want to help us for any other reason than to destroy us afterword."

"Maybe if we stick around here long enough, we can figure out how to take them out." Chiro implied.

Sprx looked at Antauri's wound and nodded, he didn't like the idea of cooperating with Chad now but if it got Antauri any attention for his wound… it would have to do. He put his hand on Antauri's shoulder, "Please lay down, it will keep the wound elevated. If you don't you'll keep losing blood like crazy."

Antauri seemed to remember this fact and lay against the wall. "Antauri, I meant on the floor, so that your wound is at least closer to the level of your heart…"

Chad turned to go, "If you're not going to lie down for yourself, why don't you do it for Chiro then? I think he would have appreciated you taking better care of yourself." He said as he walked out.

Antauri looked heavenward, he placed his hand over his heart and laid back, closing his weary eyes and resting. Sprx stroked the silver simian's head, looking up towards the door, "I don't know what you're going to do, but you better do it fast Chad." He stated, looking back at his wounded comrade.

Five minutes passed. Seven minutes passed. Ten minutes passed. Sprx was continuously consulting his internal clock to keep track of how long Antauri had bled and how long it was taking Chad to get back.

Antauri placed his hand on Sprx's shoulder, "Don't get your fur in a knot." He told him wisely. "Bartering takes time. Especially this kind of barter. We should consider ourselves lucky if he comes back at all."

Sprx looked down at his wounded comrade and could only see red. Antauri's horrid wound, he ground his teeth loudly. Antauri was the only thing he had left. He felt a hand upon his leg and looked at the gently breathing silver simian.

He immediately felt remorseful, remembering something Antauri had once said about energy and emotions. He sighed and hung his head. "I should've apologized to Otto." He muttered to himself,

"Why?" He heard Antauri's voice crack out.

Sprx looked up at the unexpected question, and finally answered it, "I called him an idiot. Right before the battle that I blacked out in, I called him an idiot for not understanding anything." He paused, "I shouldn't have."

"Hmm…" Antauri replied as best he could.

"I also shoulda told Nova how I really felt… I loved her so much and now all I have is her carcass." He took a deep breath, deciding to inject some mild humour, "And while I'm at it, I probably should have congratulated and done more with Gibson. I really took advantage of him; I never celebrated any of his awards even though he was always there for me. I mean, he's my brother*, I should have been at least a little nicer to him."

Antauri didn't respond this time.

A half an hour passed, Chad finally came down to the brig. Mandarin, Sakko and Togo were all accompanying him.

Mandarin had his arms folded crossly, "I do not think we should believe such quick change. It seems very unrealistic that they would go to such great lengths to get in here, to be so close to victory, their prize, and just give up." He observed.

"Perhaps they didn't want all of Shugazoom to see that they were crawling to us in defeat." Sakko guessed.

Togo looked at the prisoners, "Whatever, I just vote that we see what they can do and hire them if they do well." She huffed, "His highness needs all the help he can get. Especially because those stupid humans are dirtying the floors of his palace like pigs!" She sighed, "Why did the ancients create such a disgusting animal that wallows in it's own disgusting filth. The retched abominations should all be wiped from the face of the universe if they knew what was good for themselves."

She opened the door to the cage, "Get up you morons!" She yelled, "You wanna work with us then you better be ready to work like us!"

Sprx carefully stood up, he looked down to Antauri for a mere second, the silver monkey slowly followed, standing upright.

"What about his wounds?" Chad asked, pointing to the large stab wound in Antauri's chest.

She looked over at the snow monkey, "Don't make me think you've gone soft! He'll manage just fine for the initiation. If he does well then he'll be taken care of, if he doesn't… well, we'll kill him just like we did the rest of his filthy team."

Chad nodded.

She looked between the prisoners, "Let's get the goodie-goodie out of the way first." She motioned to Antauri.

He carefully walked forward. She took a step back, shoving Mandarin in front of her, "Punch him." She ordered.

As an automatic, Antauri obeyed and struck out, viciously striking the orange simian without blinking.

Mandarin put his hand on his cheek, "Why the hell?" He asked, "Give me the key to the med room. I need to get some ice for this. I think he broke my cheekbone."

She smirked in satisfaction at Mandarin's response. "Sorry," She said, "Just suffer. It makes my job worthwhile."

She looked back to Antauri, pulling a photograph frame from behind her back, "Now, break it and shred this to bits." She ordered, showing it to him.

It was a picture of the team, gathered around Chiro on his birthday.

Antauri scowled and growled at the image, "What a waste I let myself lay to." He said, emotionless. He telekinetically broke the frame in two, shredding the image into a million tiny pieces, watching it fall to the ground emotionlessly.

She grinned at the reaction, her brow raising at his viciousness. "You may not be as much of a lost cause as I thought."

She looked over, "Mandarin, bring me one of those things that his highness keeps at pets. This will be the ultimate test." She looked at the door, "Besides, it will be interesting to see how a Hyperforcian kills." She stifled a cruel chuckle.

* * *

**Dun dun dun...**

I am laughing my head off right now because you have a cliffhanger and Chapter 10b is sitting pretty in the queue, waiting to be tacked on right now. All I need is two more reviews... between chapters 9 and 10a... I might even post it today if I get those reviews. Otherwise, I'll post it in a week... *sighs* the suspense is killing me too!  
And now... for my friend...

Announcer bunny: Will Antauri actually kill someone? I mean... I understand how he would be able to punch Mandarin... the guy killed him! And the picture... for show right? But killing... will he be able to? And what about Sprx... what tests will he have? I wonder... and about that wound too... will he be able to have it treated in time? Just review and you shall learn.


	11. Pt 10b

A/N: I know I said this last chapter but for those who don't read… **Warning: this chapter contains fairly graphic (violence, blood, extreme cruelty) materials, if this makes you squeamish, please skip over it. Skipping this chapter shouldn't put you into too bad a position for reading chapter 11.  
**This is your last chance to turn away if you are squeamish... this chapter is by far the goriest of all so far and contains practically sadistic themes. But if you choose to continue... _**read and review **my friends... *evil laughter*  
_And if **Writing a story **is reading this one... I give you much thanks for being such a faithful reviewer! It makes me feel like someone out there wants to read this thing. So thanks a lot, every one helps.

Disclaimer: Yeah yeah yeah, I don't own it. Actually, I own nothing until I'm 18, so there!

**The War was Lost**

Chapter 10b: Evil

Mandarin quickly slunk off.

She turned around, seeing that Mandarin had disappeared, she looked to Chad. "Bring me a second one. I almost forgot there were two of them."

Chad nodded and disappeared out the door.

Togo smirked at Antauri, "If you live up to what I expect of you… hm… I might even consider making you my apprentice."

His fur ruffled. "I assume to work for the Skeleton King himself." He growled, "I will not obey to the likes of you unless the master specifies himself."

She simply smiled, watching as Mandarin brought the first human in. It was a tall, yet scraggly male, looking to stand at near-giant status.

Mandarin pushed him forward, "Our lord has mandated that we are not allowed to kill the humans. We may injure them, but not to the point of death." He stated.

"Very well." Togo nodded, she looked to Antauri, "Now, turn this into a piece of art. I know those claws can inflict long-term suffering. Have Mandarin pin him to a wall if he gets to squirmy."

She looked over at Sprx, "What to do with you?" She asked, "I guess I'll modify the tests. Chad," She said to the returning monkey, "Watch over him. I'll be right back." She left the room.

Chiro released the human, it was a little girl. She ran to the corner of the room to escape from the frightening messengers of Skeleton King. He looked over to Antauri, who was doing as told, using the human as a canvas, and his claws as his brushes.

Marks on the arms were already beginning to look like tribal tattoos. Yet, despite his speed, it already looked complex, although sickening as the air was beginning to smell of blood.

Togo came back in, she had a puppy with her, she placed it on the ground. "Now," She said, "Kill it."

Sprx released his magnets, and as easily as breathing, released the bolts in the direction of the puppy. It screamed terribly for a few seconds before silencing. He stopped after a few seconds more of bolts.

She walked over to the animal, feeling and listening for a heartbeat or pulse. Nothing. She studied his magnets, "That was not challenging." She stated. She grabbed another frame from behind her, this one containing a picture of Nova, in a sweet yet suggestive position in the picture. She handed it to Sprx, "Destroy it."

He couldn't hold back to stare at it, he knew. He melted the picture frame using the heat from his magnets, charring the picture beyond recognition with it. He attempted to crumple it, the picture disintegrating to dust in his hand. "Is that destroyed enough?" He asked.

She nodded. "Now," she said, "See the human over there? Char it until it stops screaming."

He aimed his magnets at the child, releasing the blast, listening to her scream in agony as the electricity inflicted first-degree burns on the child. He forced his face straight, staring straight into the electric mess.

The smells that were filling the room were noxious, death, blood, fire.

The girl stopped screaming. Sprx immediately stopped his fire, obeying the command he'd been given before. The burned child crumpled to the ground, doubling over with pain from the fire. She watched in fear.

Togo smiled cruelly at the fearful child. She looked back at Sprx, "Come, I have other various tests for you to complete.

She looked over to Mandarin, "Just come get me when he's done. I'm sure my new piece of artwork will look lovely."

Mandarin nodded and watched her leave the room with Sprx.

Automatically after she left, Mandarin left Antauri's side. He walked over, pulling up the girl by her hand, he sighed, "Sakko, see if you can unlock the Medical Room's door."

He lifted her up, careful to keep his hands on only the unharmed areas of her skin. Sakko had already skittered out.

The girl lay her head against Mandarin's chest, closing her eyes and peacefully breathing, recovering from the encounter. "I'm sorry." He whispered to her. He looked to Antauri, watching him slice ribbons of flesh into elaborate designs as quickly as possible.

A few quiet moments past except for the occasional painful grunt of the man.

Sakko finally came back, he had a cup of a special paste in his hand, along with a bottle and a syringe.

Mandarin grabbed the bottle and the syringe. "Start covering the areas I hit." He opened the bottle and pulled up fluid into the syringe. He carefully injected it into the girl's upper arm.

Sakko was quick to cover the injection site with the cream.

Mandarin injected another syringeful into her hand, Sakko covering the wound.

This continued for a while more, until the charred child was covered in the cream.

Togo finally came back in, Sprx at her side, an emotionless mask on his face. The dull grey monkey looked to Antauri, she tapped his shoulder, "You can stop now."

He looked at her, his claws dripping with blood. She looked around the room, "I was surprised at how powerful the two of you can be. You're both hired. It's sad that both of you wasted such beautiful potential for so long." She nodded, "Mandarin, you and your rat clean up the place. I don't want to see a drop of blood on the floor."

She pulled a key out from her helmet, "Take care of his wound now Chad." She said, tossing the key to him. "They can bunk with you for now. I'll see they have some floor to sleep on by nightfall."

Chad nodded. She left the room.

He looked at the two warriors and the wound on Antauri's chest. "Come." He told them softly.

He lead them down halls and into the infirmary, more like a medical closet really. He zipped through a rather straightforward naming system, finding one drawer for stab wounds. He quietly applied the objects in the drawer in a sensible order, stitching the wound closed. He placed everything back, signaling them to follow him again.

He led them into a room, sitting on the bed, quietly fingering the blanket on it, displaying little interest in what Sprx or Antauri did.

Sprx looked at him, "Why are you just sitting there?" He asked, "Isn't there something you have to do or something? Aren't you worried that we could just run like hell out of that door?" He asked.

He turned over, "No." He responded simply, "And if you did, I wouldn't be able to do anything. I have no special abilities. I must admit. You were both rather… vicious and… sadistic back there."

Sprx closed his eyes, "I had to do everything in my power to keep from crying." He said.

The pair looked to Antauri.

He closed his eyes, "Unfortunately, for me, that viciousness toward humans was… rather easy. It is in my blood, my home has constant conflicts between humans and monkeys, and it is a bloodbath."

"Then why didn't you hurt anyone in the first place?" Sprx asked.

"I did not wish to. I did not wish to this time either. However, when I released that genetic hatred, I found it frightening how sadistic I was." He replied.

Sprx nodded quietly. He looked up at Chad, "What did you have to do when you first came here?"

Chiro closed his orbs, "Nothing." He replied, "I was revived here. They probably thought that because they created me here that the evil essence of this place would just be part of me."

* * *

I know... compared to last chapter, the ending doesn't leave you at the edge of your seat. But... Antauri and Sprx are in... and that little kid is still back in the robot, hungry nonetheless.

Announcer Bunny: Will they escape? Do they want to escape? What about the little kid in the robot? Will Chiro ever tell them his name? So much to know... so little time!

I loved making Mandarin help that little girl. It just helps to emphasize Togo's evilness (and her final goals, as a character... which I shall reveal sometime soon.) Don't forget to review!


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